Tell us about what you're doing with your life
In 2019, I retired after 35 years with United Technologies Corp. (UTC) where I spent the last nine years leading the employee and labor relations function covering the company’s 240,000 employees in 75 countries. Since then, I’ve kept my toe in the water training, lecturing (including a few classes a year on the Hill) and writing about effective global labor relations leadership.
The rest of my toes have been immersed in the federally designated wild and scenic Farmington River that flows through our back yard. Most days you’ll find me in my kayak on the river, camera in hand. My photos and a spot on the board of our regional watershed association give me voice to advocate for our river and everything that depends on it.
What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found most useful?
Professor Windmuller’s classes on comparative industrial relations systems got me hooked. I remember his mischievous laugh as he shared photos he had taken surreptitiously out the window of a car during a tour of the Soviet system while his “minder” looked the other way. His enthusiasm for digging into the way things worked in other countries – the differences and the similarities – influenced the way I approached new countries as my responsibilities expanded over the decades.
If you could change anything about your Cornell experience, what would it be?
My relationship with Cornell has matured over the years. As a freshman, I saw college as an obligation, not an opportunity. It was a ticket to be punched.
Despite that myopic perspective, Cornell provided an unmatched foundation for a rewarding career. It wasn’t until I returned to recruit ILRies in the ‘90s, to lecture in the ‘00s, and to seek advice when all hell broke loose in China in the ‘10s that I really understood how precious those four years were.
What would I change? I’d tell that incoming freshman to open his eyes to all the opportunities around him!
What does being a Cornell alumnus mean to you?
I have bumped into Cornellians all over the world. Wherever they were from, whenever they graduated, whatever their field of study, our time on the Hill almost always established a bond on which we could quickly build - instant community.